Foot holder for skis



United States Patent 3,341,218 FOOT HOLDER FOR SKIS Nils Tage Forzelius,Brunemo, Vallentuna, Sweden Filed Apr. 14, 1965, Ser. No. 448,176 3Claims. (Cl. 280-11.35)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ski having a boot holder which is providedwith opposed side supports having front and rear teeth, a fixed frontplate having teeth meshing with some of the front teeth, and a movablerear plate having teeth meshing with some of the rear teeth. Rubberdiscs and a swingable excenter are used to vary the pressure of the rearplate against the side supports;

This invention relates to skis and refers more particularly to footholding means for skis. The invention is particularly concerned with adevice for adjusting the side holders for ski supports provided withteeth, the adjustment taking place between a fixed toothed plate and amovable toothed plate which can be fixed in a desired position to lockthe side supports.

Known constructions of this type cannot be used as safety connections;thus, a skier in the case of a fall could not quickly remove the skissince the holders are blocked by screws. It is known in the art toprovide springs which press one of the two toothed plates, namely, themovable plate, against the support, but these springs are used only forthe purpose of facilitating the setting of the supports and are notsufficient to hold the supports firmly in their respective positionswhen the skis are being actually used. Furthermore, the force exerted bythe spring or springs upon the support could not be adjusted.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks ofprior art constructions.

Other objects will become apparent in the course of the followingspecification.

In the accomplishment of the objectives of the present invention, it wasfound desirable to provide resilient means, namely, at least one rubberdisc for holding the movable toothed plate against the supports bypressure.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detaileddescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawingshowing by way of example, a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a top view of a device of the present invention, a portionof the cover plate having been removed.

FIGURE 2 is a section along the line II-II of FIG- URE 1.

As shown in the drawing, the device of the present invention is fixedupon a ski carrying the support-adjusting members. The device includes abase plate 12 and a cover plate 14. Two foot supports 16 and 18 fitbetween the plates 12 and 14. A front toothed plate 20 is firmly fixedupon the base plate 12, preferably by spot welding. The base plate 12along with the front toothed plate 20 and the cover plate 14 areattached to the ski 10 by means of wooden screws 30. A rear movabletoothed plate 22 is also located between the plates 12 and 14 along withrubber discs 24 and 26 and a bar 28. The supports 16 and 18 are providedwith teeth 32 and 34 at their front and rear edges and these teeth meshwith the teeth 36 and 38, respectively, of the plates 20 and 22 in amanner known per se. The rear movable toothed plate 22 has elongatedopenings 40 through which screws extend, so that the toothed plate 22can be shifted in the longitudinal direction of the ski. Furthermore,the movable "ice toothed plate 22 has close to its outer endsrectangular slots 42 extending transversely to the direction of the ski.The base plate has a similar slot 44, while the cover plate 14 has asimilar slot 46. However, the slot 46 is shifted rearwardly in relationto the slot 42 of the toothed plate 22 to an extent which corresponds tothe extent of movement of the toothed plate 22, so that the plate 22 canmove out of engagement with the supports 16 and 18. Therefore, byinserting a screw driver or a similar tool into the slots 46, 42 and 44and by turning the screw driver, the toothed plate 22 can be movedsomewhat rearwardly and thus free the supports 16 and 18, which can thenbe adjusted so that they will be adapted to the shoe of the skier.Recesses 48 are provided at the rear edge of the toothed plate 22adjacent the two outer ends thereof, and rubber discs 24 and 26 extendinto these recesses. The opposite ends of the rubber discs 24 and 26engage the bar 28. The rubber discs 24 and 26 are somewhat compressedwhen the toothed plate 22 is moved rearwardly.

An excenter disc 50 is located adjacent the middle of the bar 28. Thedisc 50 is swingably mounted by means of a screw or rivet 54 upon anextension 52 constituting a part of the base plate 12. The screw 54constitutes the axis of rotation of the disc 50. To facilitate theturning of the disc 50, it is provided with an arm 54', which has in thecenter a substantially rectangular recess. A stop spring 56 is locatedin this recess and has a curved portion 58 which can fit into any one ofthe stop openings 60 provided in the extension 52 of the plate 12. Theholes 60 are located upon a semi circle so that the excenter disc 50 canbe turned to the extent of about and can be held in any desiredintermediate position by means of one of the holes 60. Since the bar 28is loosely mounted between the rubber discs and the excenter disc, thisturning of the excenter disc 50 will push the locking bar 28 in itsentirety forwardly or rearwardly, whereby the two rubber discs 24 and 26will be compressed to a greater or lesser extent.

In the position of the excenter disc 50 shown in FIG. 1, the bar 28 isin its rearmost position, so that the rubber discs 24 and 26 aresubjected to the least pressure. This makes it possible to release theside supports 16 and 18 from their engagement with the teeth of the twotoothed plates 20 and 22, if the force exerted sidewise upon thesupports is sufiiciently great. Then the supports can be pushedoutwardly so that the shoe of the skier can be freed from its engagementwith the supports. This setting of the disc 5! is advisable, forexample, during slalom skiing or during jumping. On the other hand,during a long run on comparatively fiat surfaces, it is advisable toswing the arm 54 all the way to the right (looking in the direction ofFIG. 1), since then the supports 16 and 18 as a rule, will not besubjected to side pressures. In the extreme right hand position of thearm 54', the locking bar 28 is pushed forward to the greatest possibleextent, so that the rubber discs 24 and 26 are subjected to the greatestcompression.

The base plate 12 has a horizontal front end portion 62 which extendssomewhat forwardly parallel to the upper surface of the ski. Thisportion is followed by a vertical portion 64 which extends upwardlypreferably to the extent of about two centimeters, as well as a part 66,the upper surface of which is again parallel to the ski surface. Thus,the base plate 12 terminates in a projecting piece 62, 64, 66 whichserves as a front support and which engages the tip ofthe shoe of theskier.

It is apparent that the example described above is capable of manyvariations and modifications within the scope of the present invention.For example, the two rubber discs 24, 26 may be replaced by a singlerubber member which will engage the center of the toothed plate 22. Therubber discs instead of being round as shown, can be of rectangular,trapezoidal or oval shape. It is important, however, that the rubberelements be flat, so that they can be conveniently placed between thebase plate 12 and the cover plate 14. The advantage of using rubberelements is that they effectively resist corrosion and thus contributeto the safety and security of the device.

All such and other variations and modifications are to be includedwithin the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ski, a foot holding device, comprising, in combination, twoopposed supports having teeth on opposite edges thereof, a fixed platehaving teeth meshing with some of the teeth of said supports, a movableplate having teeth meshing with other teeth of said supports, two rubberdiscs engaging said movable plate, a movable bar engaging said rubberdiscs, and an excenter disc engaging said bar.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,049,734 8/ 1962 Johnson et al.

FOREIGN PATENTS 206,338 11/ 1959 Australia. 451,291 9/ 1948 Canada.664,580 6/ 1963 Canada. 245,710 8/ 1947 Switzerland.

LEO FRIAGLIA, Primary Examiner.

MILTON L. SMITH, Examiner.

